Luke's better Praise God! Now I need to get my act together to get out of here soon.

Luke made a speedy recovery yesterday, Praise God! I'm getting ready to go on our church's women's retreat here soon. Just got to get my act together before I leave, I still have quite a bit to do. You know like finishing the laundry and putting it away, packing myself, picking out all the kids clothes for church on Sunday as Gordy will have enough on his plate just getting them out of the door by himself on time, bathing and feeding Luke, getting the other kids fed and ready to start school and the list goes on . . . Do you think I will be able to get out of here in 2 hours?? I hope so.

I would sure appreciate your prayers for Luke to stay healthy this weekend and that Gordy will be able to get some great sleep each night. Also for our retreat to go wonderfully and for women's lives to be changed this weekend.

Love you all so much and appreciate your prayers,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

Trusting in Jesus today to reach down and heal Luke, as he is very sick once again.

I was so tired last night I went to bed early, that is early for me. I was in such a deep sleep that when I woke up the first time to Luke's alarm going off I couldn't remember where I was. I was thinking what is that noise, then I realized it was Luke alarming, I got up and wondered where to find him, weird huh, I guess it just shows how deeply I was sleeping. Needless to say Luke is very sick again. We took him to church last night, which we rarely do and I guess it wasn't the best choice. His heart rate has been soaring way to high all night, which usually means he has a high fever, it was up to 103.5 at one time after giving him some Ibuprofen, stripping him down to his diaper and uncovering him it finally went down to normal. He has been on at least 1 liter of oxygen for the past few hours. Bottom line is he needs prayer.

For the past 5 months my sister Jill, myself and a few other women have been planning a women's retreat at a little Bavarian town called Leavenworth. The theme of the weekend is Trust Walk, learning to trust Jesus through the good and hard times in our lives. Since we decided on this theme we have been tested in truly trusting Jesus, time and time again. Jill's husband John was laid off from his job, Yoli's husband came up on orders to move to San Antonio, TX, Natalie got married, Luke has been battling lots of bouts of pneumonia, we have all been tested in one way or another these past few months. Learning to trust Jesus in the good times is so easy, during the trying times it's a lot harder, but so worth it! I'm trusting and believing that God is going to reach down and heal Luke today, as I have so much to do before tomorrow. Would you join with me in prayer that God will heal Luke today and give me a peace about leaving Gordy home with all the kids this weekend and most importantly that God will teach us all how to completely trust Him no matter what is going on in our lives.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN, we feel like we been riding Tetter Toter this past week:/

The Lord blessed us with a wonderful trip to MO. It was beautiful there as you can see by the pictures I've posted below. Natalie and Josh's reception was great, the food was delicious and Josh's family were all so very nice. Both services at church on Sunday were awesome, just what I needed to hear, God knew we needed to be there and I'm so glad we trusted Him to take care of Luke and our children, he was faithful in keeping them all healthy and happy while we were gone.

Here we are doing a Geo-cache at the beautiful Hahn State Park, yes we did climb up that rock cliff only to realize we had passed right by it below.

We also went to see to Elephant Rock State Park, you have to see these rocks to realize how really big they truly are!

We spent our last day at the St. Louis Zoo, it was so much fun reminiscing with Josh as he told us stories about when he was a little boy going around that Zoo.

Our plane landed on Monday night and we took off "running" to a very busy week. Tuesday was going to be a chore day, but ended up being a bit stressful as Luke was coughing out blood. My sister Jill just happened to come over that day and she thought I should take him into the Dr. so I called and they told me to take him to either the ER or Urgent Care. But Praise God, He had other plans, Jill and I prayed for Luke to stop coughing up the blood and God answered our prayers. After waiting a few hours and seeing no more blood I called back the consulting nurse and asked her if she still thought I should take him in, she consulted with the on call Dr. and they decided that we didn't need to take him in unless he began again. God is so faithful!

On Thursday I took Luke in for his annual check up at his Gastronologist and for the first time since Luke's accident Dr. A told us that he was at a perfect weight, that he looks great and his g-tube is at the perfect place still. I wanted to stand up and shout Hallelujah, but I refrained, it was so refreshing hearing this news as last year we were told that he needed to gain weight. After we left that appointment we went straight to his Pulmonologist and were once again blessed with good news. For the first time that I can remember, Dr. R said that Luke sounded good, this is not the norm, in fact I can't ever remember this happening before. Dr. R told us that we do not need to come back for another year, Hallelujah!

I wish I could say that our good news continued on Friday, but this would not be true. Friday Luke had an appointment with his Rehab Dr. and this Dr. didn't have good news to tell us, in fact it was quite grim to be honest. He said that Luke is one of the most puzzling and tight child he has ever seen. I was thankful that Dr. C took almost an hour to talk about all the different options we might still have for Luke. We decided that we are going to try Botox in his quads to see if Luke can relax enough to get his legs bending again, we are also going to go to a full dose of Dantrolene, which is a muscle relaxant, I'm praying that we don't completely lose Luke's cognitive levels by taking it up that high. It's such a balancing act, knowing that Luke desperately needs help with his muscle tone issues, but at the same time not wanting him to sleep all the time.

Saturday evening we went up to Starlight's Trick or Suite at the Embassy Suites in Tukwila. The kids had a blast dressing up, can you tell what they are? Just in case you can't Lily was a 1980's aerobic instructor, Luke was a ring bearer, Ezekiel was Le Beau from Hogan's Hero's and Isaiah was Clark Kent, aka Superman. There was games to play, candy to eat, prizes to win, crafts to be done and then to top off the whole night we got to stay in one of the Suites all night long. The next morning we actually slept in and went swimming after a late breakfast, it was so relaxing!

And last but not least yesterday we went up to Seattle for the Annual Starlight Fundraiser luncheon. The kids held up signs thanking the people for coming, passed out the programs as they walked in to be seated for lunch and then helped to collect the money at the end. Lily was so excited she absolutely loves Starry and was following Starry around where ever he went.

I really do need to post more often I realize this blog entry is way to long, if you made it this far you really are a faithful follower, thank you.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Suzi

PS On Monday my sister Lori's husband Lonnie, lost his father to cancer. Praise God we are assured that he is heaven. Would you please keep his family in your prayers as they grieve. Tomorrow I will be driving with my parents over to be with them and stay until Saturday after the memorial service, would you say a prayer for our safety as it has been snowing in the passes this past week and for Luke to continue to stay healthy while I'm gone?? Thank you.